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Signs of a failing turbo


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Right guys I'm now into my third week of vrs tdi torque heaven and still loving driving it. But, I've just finished a nightshift and my colleague mentioned fuelling up his mk5 gttdi at our local 24hour supermarket so for comparison reasons i jumped in for a spin. Now I'm starting to wish i hadn't. On acceleration i couldn't hear his turbo spooling at all. We went maybe 5 miles so both got in mine and straight off a noticable whistle on spool up. Almost like a faint siren. As the car is only on 69k I'll be amazed if its impending doom and quite shocking if so. So question is, is it bad news?

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On my old Octavia mk2 Tdi, I had the police siren noise at 30 odd thousand miles. 

 

I had it changed in the last day of warranty though.

 

Might be worth having some tests done on your turbo, before any failure, as its much cheaper to get a recon one fitted prior to any damage, than after.

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On my old Octavia mk2 Tdi, I had the police siren noise at 30 odd thousand miles.

I had it changed in the last day of warranty though.

Might be worth having some tests done on your turbo, before any failure, as its much cheaper to get a recon one fitted prior to any damage, than after.

So yours was noisy at 30k. How long did you run it like that for and was it any worse by the time you had it replaced?

Is it a job easy to do at home?

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Some turbo's are noisier than others.

 

The turbo on my vRS was noticeable, (but then I did go through three turbo's in as many months  :D ).

 

Don't let it worry you, they generally whistle very loud before they fail completely.

 

A young lad in our street bought a 2006 diesel Octavia a few years ago, he thrashes it from cold and generally drives it like it's stolen. It has a really loud turbo whistle (Imean the worst I've ever heard - even the wife noticed it and that's saying something!) but it is still going strong today as we speak!

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Ive had my vRS from about 45k, now got 113k on it.

i think its always had that siren type whistle on spooling up.

local garage questioned whether the turbo vanes might be getting clogged a little more recently, but i think its not related to the spooling siren/whistle.

i have been interested in replacing it though...any ideas what it might cost?

either recon or new(and improved of course!!)

 

can be quite amusing when the passengers are searching round for the feds!

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Lol yeah it was the first thing my Dad said when he got in. Told me to pull over for the police car!! I've had a check of the turbine blades etc today. Quite easy to access just remove the inlet pipe. The blades look fine no bits missing but there is a little bit of movement on when pulling/pushing on the shaft. Not loads mind but noticable. I'm not really sure where to go with this really. I rang my mechanic today and he said exactly what silver mentioned, some are noisy some aren't basically. Offered to book it in for him to check it. Reading the Haynes manual for turbo removal it says half the car needs to come to bits! Driveshafts out, subframes and steering racks too. Wtf!!

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Thanks for the replies btw guys. It's sort of put my mind at ease!!

Just a question silver. When you had new turbos fitted were the new ones whistling as well? I did hear it on the test drive and mentioned it to the lad that was selling it he told me him and his wife had owned the car since 09 and bought it with only 26k on the clock and it was doing it then.

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So yours was noisy at 30k. How long did you run it like that for and was it any worse by the time you had it replaced?

Is it a job easy to do at home?

Ran it like that for about 2 weeks as the warranty was due to expire, so got it booked in sharpish.

 

don't know how hard a job it is, but something I wouldn't contemplate doing myself as I'm not too hot with a spanner.

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i have been interested in replacing it though...any ideas what it might cost?

 

 

 

I would budget around £700 all in for a straight swap recon turbo fitted.

 

Hybrid turbo obviously more, maybe double that.

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Thanks for the replies btw guys. It's sort of put my mind at ease!!

Just a question silver. When you had new turbos fitted were the new ones whistling as well? I did hear it on the test drive and mentioned it to the lad that was selling it he told me him and his wife had owned the car since 09 and bought it with only 26k on the clock and it was doing it then.

 

The first one (from new) was silent to 50,000 miles (ish), it then began to quietly whistle. As I had a few months left on the warranty I tried my luck, was successful and had it replaced FOC.

 

The second turbo whistled off the dealers forecourt, turned around not happy. Replaced by Skoda under their parts guarantee.

 

Third turbo was no different, still a faint whistle.

 

Shortly after the car was sold. I think a faint whistle is the norm on some cars.

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The first one (from new) was silent to 50,000 miles (ish), it then began to quietly whistle. As I had a few months left on the warranty I tried my luck, was successful and had it replaced FOC.

The second turbo whistled off the dealers forecourt, turned around not happy. Replaced by Skoda under their parts guarantee.

Third turbo was no different, still a faint whistle.

Shortly after the car was sold. I think a faint whistle is the norm on some cars.

That's great buddy i will have a decent nights sleep thanks to you buddy. A faint whistle/siren type noise is the best way to describe it. It only lasts for a split second then disappears. Major service i think I'll do now. Fresh oil etc. Just had the battery tested thats low capacity that might explain the dodgy cold starts.

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Three main elements to prolonging turbo life...

 

1) Wait until the engine is up to temperature before putting the turbo to hard work.

2) Take a steady drive for the last few miles from home to give the turbo time to cool if it has been worked hard.

3) The turbo is lubricated using the engine oil. As with the engine good, fresh oil is it's life blood. Regular oil changes will help.

 

If you have a faint whistle / siren then you are fine, all normal.

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I'm old fashioned I've just never liked the idea of 20k service intervals. It'll be changed every year from now on. At least if anything does happen to the turbo it won't be due to the oil.

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A faint whislte is fine.

 

You can hear it on mine when it's cold and doing short trips, but on a long run it's hardly noticeable (Carterton - Southampton - Plymouth - Carterton with two stops).

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Everyone's comments have eased my worries. It does look like a faint whistle seems to be normal. I'm now thinking my mates Golf isn't boosting up as his turbo was silent. If i didn't know what car i was in i wouldn't have thought it was a turbo tbh. Although it did pull well.

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